Rikuy!

Rikuy! is a Windows-first PyQt6 webcam viewer built on OpenCV, with native Linux Video4Linux2 support. It scans for available cameras, restores the last selected camera and resolution, and presents a responsive live-preview layout with clear camera controls.

The camera status badge reports startup, the active backend and negotiated resolution, live video, interrupted signals, and errors. Audio capture remains intentionally disabled while camera startup reliability is being stabilized.

Controls

Control	Shortcut	Behavior
Mirror	Alt+M	Mirrors the displayed preview without changing camera capture.
Save Frame	Ctrl+S	Opens an explicit file dialog and saves the visible frame as a PNG.
Fullscreen	F11	Toggles fullscreen; press Esc to return to windowed mode.
Refresh Cameras	F5	Scans for connected cameras again while preserving selections when possible.

The preview extends to the bottom of the window and scales with it. Camera, resolution, and action controls live in a responsive top bar that wraps only when the window is narrow, and remains available in fullscreen use.

Requirements

• Windows or Linux
• Python 3.9 or newer with pip
• A webcam available to the operating system

Setup

From the repository root:

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

If PowerShell blocks virtual-environment activation, either adjust the execution policy for the current process or run the environment's Python directly:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Launch

With the virtual environment activated:

python rikuy.py

You can also run:

.\run_rikuy.bat

The batch launcher prefers .venv\Scripts\python.exe, then tries python and the Windows py -3 launcher. It pauses only when no usable interpreter is available or Rikuy exits with an error.

Linux

On Arch Linux, install the native runtime packages and then run the user-local installer:

sudo pacman -S --needed python-opencv python-numpy python-pyqt6 imagemagick
./install_linux.sh

Launch Rikuy from the app menu or run rikuy. The Linux launcher stores settings under ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/rikuy/config.ini and the application under ${XDG_DATA_HOME:-$HOME/.local/share}/rikuy.

For a repository-local launch, run ./run_rikuy.sh. Maintainers can run ./run_rikuy.sh --smoke-test to open the real interface and close it automatically after a short startup check.

Configuration

Rikuy reads config.ini beside rikuy.py. The file is local-only and ignored by Git. The app saves the selected camera and resolution there when it exits.

To start from the provided defaults:

Copy-Item config.example.ini config.ini

The main video settings are:

• last_video_id: preferred OpenCV camera index; use -1 to fall back to an available camera.
• last_resolution_w and last_resolution_h: preferred capture resolution.

Audio-related keys remain in the example for compatibility, but they have no effect while audio is disabled.

To use another configuration file, set RIKUY_CONFIG before launch. Relative paths are resolved from the repository root:

$env:RIKUY_CONFIG = "config.testing.ini"
python rikuy.py

Tests

The standard-library test suite uses fakes and does not require a webcam:

python -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Automated tests cannot reproduce every driver or device behavior. Real Windows camera validation still matters for DirectShow and Media Foundation fallback, startup and refresh, camera or resolution switching, unplug/replug behavior, and clean shutdown.

License and branding

Rikuy's source code is open source under the MIT License. You are free to use, modify, redistribute, and incorporate the code into other projects under that license.

The Rikuy name and condor logo remain ByDSGN branding and are not included in the MIT license grant. Forks and redistributed modified versions should use a different product name and logo unless ByDSGN has explicitly granted permission. See BRANDING.md for details.

Troubleshooting

No camera is found

• Close applications that may have exclusive access to the webcam.
• Confirm camera access is enabled under Windows privacy settings.
• On Linux, confirm the camera appears as /dev/video* and that the desktop session grants access to it.
• Disconnect and reconnect external cameras, then choose Refresh Cameras or press F5.
• Run Rikuy from a terminal and review the camera scan messages.

The wrong camera or resolution opens

• Select the desired device and resolution in the app, then close it normally so the settings are saved.
• Delete or rename config.ini to return to automatic selection.
• Set last_video_id in config.ini if the camera index is stable.

The preview is black or startup fails

• Wait briefly while the camera warms up.
• Check the camera status badge for the active backend, resolution, or recovery message.
• Close other camera software and relaunch Rikuy.
• Update the webcam driver through Windows, or check the V4L2 device and input signal on Linux.
• Remove and recreate .venv, then reinstall requirements.txt if imports or Qt platform plugins fail.

Audio controls are unavailable

This is expected. Audio is intentionally disabled in the current application behavior.